Dr. John Carter

WWP's Utah Director and Member of the Board

Dr. John Carter has a lifetime of experience in business, consulting, public service, and a profound respect for nature nurtured on the family farm in North Carolina where he was raised. He has a degree in Mechanical Engineering from Georgia Institute of Technology, a Masters in Business Administration from Georgia State University and a PhD in Biology/Ecology from Utah State University.

After first working in Atlanta, Georgia as an engineer, John became President of Eastern Mechanical Engineers there which designed environmental control and waste control systems for large commercial and industrial facilities.  John then moved to Utah to attend graduate school and learn more about the forests and wildlife of the West. While attending Utah State University, he did research and taught classes as a teaching assistant in Botany, Biology, Plant Taxonomy and Plant Physiology.

Following graduation, he worked as an investigator and coordinator of aquatic programs for a private consulting firm. He subsequently became a co-owner of Ecosystem Research Institute which conducted watershed studies related to oil shale development, coal mines, and hydroelectric projects, and President of ERI Logan, a company involved in hazardous waste management, Superfund remedial investigations, and natural resource damage assessment.

John also founded Environmental and Engineering Solutions, a consulting business which he still owns, and prior to joining WWP, was President of Willow Creek Ecology, a tax exempt corporation dedicated to wildlife habitat conservation and preservation. He is the author of numerous scientific publications and presentations on a variety of subjects ranging from Grazing Capacity and Rangeland Health to Declining Water Quality Due to Livestock Production, and Cattle Grazing and Grouse Habitat.

John has served as an expert witness for Western Watersheds Project on many occasions and is currently involved in a variety of research projects and surveys in Utah and Idaho related to watersheds and the impact of grazing and other use-related activities. He is a member of the Society for Range Management and the Soil and Water Conservation Society.

John has climbed mountains all over the world and once trekked 600 miles from Kathmandu to India via the Everest Base Camp. He has established a 900 acre wildlife preserve and research area in southeast Idaho as an example of ungrazed sagebrush steppe named after his faithful dog Kiesha, an Akita, who accompanied him on thousands of miles of hiking and surveys during her lifetime.